Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-11-12
LEATHER FROM HUMAN SKIN.
Pennsylvania Tannery Where 1t is
Prepared For the Shoemaker.
TPhiladelphia News

| remember that two or three years aga
l incidentally referred to prominent ply
stefan of this city wearing shoes made
from the skin of negroes. He still adheres
to that custom, insisting that the tanned
hide of an African makes the most endur-
ing and the most pliable leather known to
man.
Only last week | met him upon the
street with brand new pair of shoes. /
looked at his footwear, as | always do
his pedal coverings have an irresistible
fascination for me-and said with smile :
SIS the down-trodden African still beneath
your feet 2" In the most matter-of-fact
way, and without the shadow of smile, he
answered, 81 suppose you mean to inquire
if still wear shoes made of the skin of a
negro. l certainly do, and don't propose
changing in that respect until l find a
leather that is softer and will last longer
and present a better appearance. | have
no sentiment about this matter Were | a
Southerner-in the American sense of that
work. might be accused of being actu-
ated by race prejudice But am for
eigner by birth, although now an Aneri-
can citizen by naturalization. | fought in
the rebellion that the blacks might be
freed. | would use white mans skin for
the same purpose if it were sufficiently
thick, and if any one has desire to wear
my epidermis upon his feet after | have
drawn my last breath he has my ante
mortem permission"
The doctors shoes always exhibit a pc
culiarly rich lustrousness in their blackness.
He assures me that they never hurt his
Tho ha I
last saw him emitted no creaking sound,
and appeared as comfortable as though
they had been worn 4 month. Their prede-
cessors, he told me. had been in constant
use for eight months He obtains the
skin from the bodies of negroes which have
been dissected in one of our big medical
colleges. The best leather is obtained from
the thighs. The soles are formed by plac-
ing several layers of leather together. The
skin is prepared by tanner at Womels-
dorf, sixteen miles from Reading. The
shoes are fashioned by French shoe
maker of this city, who knows nothing of
the true character of the leather, but who
often wonders at its exquisite smoothness,
and says that it excels the finest French
calfskins.
Do not think for a moment that this
doctor presents an exceptional case of one
who puts the human skin to practical
use. Medical students frequently display
a great variety of articles in which the
skin or bones of some dissected mortal have
been gruesomely utilized, and in bursts of
generosity they sometimes present these to
their friends, who prize them highly. One
of the dudest dudes in town carries q match
safe covered with portion of the skin Of a
beautiful young woman who was found
drowned in the Delaware river. 1t still
retains its natural color. Another young
man with whom l am acquainted carries a
cigar case made of negro skin, and a
CHASTITY skull and cross-bones appearing on
one side in relief. One of the best known
surgeons in this country, who resides
in this city, has a beautiful instru-
ment case entirely covered with leather
made from an Africans skin. A young
society lady of this city wears beautiful
pair of dark slippers, the remarkable lus-
trousness of whose leather invariably ex-
cites the admiration of her friends when
they see them. The young doctor who
presented them to her recently returned
from an extended foreign tour, and he told
her that he had purchased them from
Turk in5Alexandria, and that he did not
know what sort of leather they were made
OF, but he supposed it was the skin of some
wild animal. As a matter of fact, the skin
came from negro cadaver which once was
prone on Jefferson College dissecting
table, and the leather was prepared in
Womelsdorf. The rosettes on the slippers
were deity fashioned from the negro's
kinky hair.